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Ex-union official sentenced in dockworker extortion scheme

By

Associated Press

April 17, 2015

A former longshoremen’s union official is headed to prison for his role in a plot to extort money from workers at the ports of Newark and Elizabeth.

State authorities say 64-year-old Nunzio LaGrasso, of Florham Park, received a six-year sentence Friday. He had pleaded guilty in January to commercial bribery conspiracy and money laundering charges. He was secretary-treasurer of International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1478.

Two other men, including a former Newark police officer, have pleaded guilty in the case.

Alan Marfia of Kenilworth pleaded guilty in January to computer theft conspiracy for using police computers to provide information to LaGrasso about undercover police vehicles conducting surveillance near his office. He’s still awaiting sentencing.

Rocco Ferrandino of Lakewood, a timekeeper at the port, received a three-year sentence last month.